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Sunday, May 3, 2009

Commercials Knock-Out Pacquiao Fans

The much-anticipated bout between Manny Pacquiao and Briton Ricky Hatton ended quickly. In fact, too quickly for the sake of the big companies who bet big advertising money to have their ads splashed during the in-between-rounds break. But with the match ending in Round 2, the free TV network GMA 7 had to insert a LOT of ads between the introduction, to the pre-fight announcement, to the two lone rounds it took for Manny to finish the match. GMA7 had to play the same 2 rounds two or three times just to fill all the airtime that was blocked. If I were an advertiser, I would feel short changed. But alas, such is the fate of the game.

So for all of us who did not pay extra to watch to fight live, we had to endure the barrage of ads. But in my case, as with previous matches of Manny, I used my Philips DVDR to just record the match so I can watch it afterwards by skipping all the commercials. And I was glad I did. I did not have to waste time sitting in front of the TV for hours just to watch 2 rounds of boxing.This page requires a higher version browser

But wait -- it seems that the match is not yet over even long after the knockdown. The guy who sang the National Anthem, Martin Nievera, is still under fire for his "interpretation" of the song. The National Historical Institue (NHI) scolded him for changing the arrangement citing Republic Act 8491 that states "the rendition of the National Anthem, whether played or sung, shall be in accordance with the musical arrangement and composition of Julian Felipe.”

Granted that I did not hear the entire anthem as sang by Martin (I only caught the last part), I am not sure if there is really such a big issue over this. Sure, he ended the last part on a high note; but don't all singers do that when they are asked to sing their national anthem during a big sports event? They do that all the time for Star-Spangled Banner in big WWE pay-per-views.